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Maybe the first high-speed rail service should be a shuttle across the floor of the Alberta legislature. They do go back and forth, these MLAs. And the latest move — Wildrose MLAs Kerry Towle and Ian Donovan jumping to the Progressive Conservatives — comes with a mighty blast of the high-speed horn. These MLAs represent a big […]

The Jim Prentice government made bold promises on environmental stewardship and fiscal stewardship in a throne speech Monday that included a laundry list of pledges the new premier and his predecessors have previously made. The PC government promised to hold the line on spending and develop a long-awaited climate change strategy by working with First […]

BANFF — Slumping oil prices have the Tory government looking for new sources of cash — including possible toll roads — as it heads into a new session of the legislature Monday. At an upbeat Progressive Conservative annual general meeting this weekend, Premier Jim Prentice struck a rare sombre note as he warned that oil prices that have slid under $75 […]

BANFF — Alberta’s Tories may not have lost an election in the last four decades but Premier Jim Prentice told ecstatic party members the Progressive Conservatives are solidly on the comeback trail. Speaking at the PC annual general meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel, a confident Prentice touted the 10 “busy, busy” weeks since he won the […]

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says she trusts Premier Jim Prentice not to call a general election for another year and a half. Under provincial law, the next election is scheduled to be held within a three-month period in spring 2016. Smith told reporters at the party’s annual convention in Red Deer that she doesn’t expect […]

Alberta's Tories will be celebrating a "second chance" as they gather in Banff this weekend while 250 kilometres away Wildrose party members will be in an introspective mood as they ruminate on their party's fortunes in Red Deer.

In March, a small group of Calgary parents piled into a vehicle and drove 300 kilometres north on the Queen Elizabeth 2 Highway to the provincial legislature in Edmonton. The four carried with them a stack of papers containing roughly 5,000 signatures desperately petitioning the province for new school facilities to address overcrowding in Calgary schools.

The battle in Calgary-Elbow on Monday turned into the three-way dogfight as expected, but newly appointed education minister Gordon Dirks pulled away from the Wildrose and the fledgling Alberta Party to cement a “significant” victory. Dirks, a former Saskatchewan cabinet minister, led the pack in the early going and then distanced himself from the Wildrose’s John Fletcher and the Alberta Party’s Greg Clark.

In the waning days of the Calgary-Elbow byelection campaign, Tory candidate Gordon Dirks donned his education minister hat to announce approval of two new modular classrooms for a French immersion school in the riding in which he is seeking votes. The good news he shared with parents in an open letter on his campaign website came before he told Calgary Board of Education anything about the 10 other schools on its priority list for portables — including six ranked higher, all outside of ridings where Tories are running in byelections.

Voting has begun in four Alberta byelections that could have a major impact on provincial politics. Advance poll locations in Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-West and Edmonton-Whitemud opened Wednesday and will continue to operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day through Saturday.

The gloves are coming off in Alberta’s byelection battle as charges and counter-charges fly among political parties. Alberta Party strategist Stephen Carter said Friday the party had filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regarding the use of an automated dialing system by the Progressive Conservative campaign in Calgary-Elbow.

Premier Jim Prentice said the Wildrose Party was using “recycled” controversies Friday, a day after the Opposition accused the Progressive Conservative party of accepting more than $100,000 in illegal donations from municipalities and other public bodies between 2004 and 2010. Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said her party had uncovered the contributions from so-called prohibited corporations through freedom of information requests and called on Prentice to ensure to make sure the money had been returned.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith charged Thursday that the Progressive Conservative party took over $100,000 in illegal donations from municipalities and other public bodies between 2004 and 2010 and she called on Premier Jim Prentice to ensure the money is paid back. In a news conference, Smith said freedom of information requests revealed 238 donations to the Tory party or its constituency associations from 41 communities and post-secondary institutions prohibited by provincial law from making political contributions.

Opposition parties roasted Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and his Tory candidates Wednesday for dodging public debates and forums during high-stakes byelection races that are slated to wrap up in less than two weeks.

Premier Jim Prentice is making his own bet on school construction in the midst of a high-stakes byelection battle and gambling that he can cover his predecessor’s commitments in time for the next provincial election in 2016.

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